Addie Card: 1910

When I interviewed Addie's descendants, they said that Addie Card told them that she had one pair of shoes, which she wore to only to church. She didn't wear them at the mill so she wouldn't get them dirty.
-Joe Manning, Lewis Hine Project

It's impossible to imagine that she preferred to go barefoot in such a dirty, dangerous place. Poverty must have left her with no choice. It's shocking to think that she had to work just to feed herself at a job that didn't even pay enough to buy shoes. Talk about oppression and child abuse.

[These kids weren't working to feed themselves; the money usually went to their parents, with some diverted to, as Lewis Hine often noted, "frivolities" like candy or "the moving pictures." As for being barefoot, we read in the historical accounts of former millworkers that going without shoes was often their own choice, or that the owners enforced a shoes-off rule to keep the floors clean. Generally speaking, these kids were not especially poor. - Dave]

It always amazes me to see kids working without shoes in factories where you would not dare to enter without workboots nowadays... how times change. I can't imagine not having shoes in a place like Vermont where it's warm only 3-4 months a year!

I just finished the article Joe wrote about Addie. I am impressed with your writing skills and the story of the little spinner. Thanks to you and to the staff at shorpy that have such a wonderful site.

Joe Manning's story about the search for "an anemic little spinner" is absolutely fascinating. Thank you, Joe, for the genealogical detective work and the story about it (and I laughed -- and groaned -- with you about finding that first headstone!)

BTW, be sure to check out the "About Joe Manning" page on his site, and learn why he's in the Baseball Hall of Fame (well, some of his work is) and has a connection with Arlo Guthrie.

That is a wonderful piece of research you did, and a great read to boot. Thanks for sharing!

Joe Manning again. At the risk of being reduntant, this was the first Hine photo I researched for my Lewis Hine Project. Addie lived to be 94 years old. See the whole story of my research at www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/addiesearch1.html

Author Elizabeth Winthrop wrote an award-winning children's novel based on this photo. It's called "Counting On Grace." See www.elizabethwinthrop.com